Posts Tagged "thank you"

Just Vlog It April Carnival

Posted by cafebebemama on Apr 19, 2010 in Just Vlog It | 2 comments

Make Us Something was the theme for the Just Vlog It April challenge and I now bring to you the 10 lovely entries from the challenge.  There was some great interpretation of the theme, as you will see.

Susie from New Day New Lesson brings us a truly scrummy vlog about making chocolate chip cookies and shaping them into hearts.  We’re all envious of her kitchen size and I was right proper hungry by the end of her vlog.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb0IaslUFus[/youtube]

Pippa from A Mother’s Ramblings and her clever partner take the theme, Make Us Something, to a new level.  Once again, for the second month in a row, Pippa was a finalist with” Make Us” and now she’s really gearing up for a win next month!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r3RqoMchoo[/youtube]

Yuri at Urbanvox and Vic at Glowstars collaborated (well, they are married after all) to produce a lovely homage to Glee in their vlog How to Embarrass Loads of People.  I believe this falls under either the Make Us Laugh or Make Us Anticipate the Return of Glee.  Well done to you both!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOou7quhzRk[/youtube]

Sarah Cooper of Sweet Craftiness has graced us with another delightful glimpse into her life with her vlog, Make Us Nostalgic.  Her amazing book is something to treasure.  We should all be so lucky as to have a gorgeous piece of history to share with our children.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aBwnCrrRV4[/youtube]

Jen at Autism, The King and I amazes us and Makes Us Say WOW with the talents of her amazing son.  I need to teach Little Miss how to be so clever just as soon as I get a new laptop, just like Jen.  You need to make sure you read her blog post which accompanies the vlog to learn more about “The King”.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFgrnHKXL4c[/youtube]

Iota from Not Wrong, Just Different gives us an amazing lesson in tea making with Make Us a Cup of Tea.  You have to listen to the background music…”Tea for Two” by Doris Day.  What perfect accompaniment to go with Iota’s gorgeously soothing accent.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMgZs0RbPAs[/youtube]

Victoria at It’s a Small World After All has done another brilliant vlog by Making Us a Recipe for Disaster.  Victoria was a finalist with this vlog and it’s well deserved.  We’re expecting remote vlog entries from Victoria & her clever family on their Around the World Trip as well!  (You Tube did a little scrambling on the first few milliseconds…bad You Tube…not Victoria’s fault!)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEa-71twQqM[/youtube]

Sian at Yummy Mummy Tips makes us marvel at her daughter’s knowledge of Spring.  Model Girl and Funny Girl make an appearance AND make us nostalgic for doing cartwheels.  Great work girls!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y13o0IDj-o[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xnOdtwH-dk[/youtube]

And finally, our fair TWO TIME champion, Heather at Young and Younger makes us JEALOUS over her kitchen & bathroom tiles AND manages to teach us how to Make Bath Fizzies.  I’m really thinking this may be everyone in my family’s Christmas present this year!  Heather went the extra mile by filming herself in the BATH as well…brave lady!  It’s all Family Friendly though, no worries…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah83ax26Slo[/youtube]

Thank you to everyone who participated in this month’s Just Vlog It Challenge- Make Us Something.  Now, for May…someone needs to knock Heather off her pedestal or she’s going to get a big head.  I’ll be announcing the theme here on Cafe Bebe on Monday 3 May…Bank Holiday Monday so don’t forget about it!

I’d also like to thank the sponsors of the April Just Vlog It Challenge- MUK LUKS, Myroo Skincare and Harper Collins Publishers.  Heather at Young & Younger will be enjoying her Pamper Hamper this month.

A final thank you to Heather at Notes from Lapland who has been such a brilliant partner in co-hosting Just Vlog It with me.  Heather will be bowing out of the co-hosting duties as she embarks on an amazing journey with her travel & tourism site, Ruka & Kuusamo A Travel Guide.  You’ve got to see her site…it’s gorgeous!  Had Heather never started the Marshmallow Challenge and contacted me about making a Vlogging Challenge, Just Vlog It would never have been.  Thank you Heather!  You’ve been a great partner and fellow vlogger.  Just think…now Heather can enter the Just Vlog It challenges herself!  Look out vloggers…

Now, if you have a vlog you’d like to share, no matter what the theme, please use the Linky Tools widget below to add your link.  See you in May…keeeeep vlogging!

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Click here to enter your link and view the entire list of entered links…

Cybermummy Here I Come

Posted by cafebebemama on Apr 17, 2010 in Blogger Love | 21 comments

I’M GOING TO CYBERMUMMY!!!  As many of you know, I have been looking for a sponsor to send me to Cybermummy, without a lot of success.  I was getting a bit down in the dumps about the whole thing, to tell you the truth.  I vlogged, I begged, I nearly offered to make cake!  You may say, “Oh, Cafe Bebe (sometimes I think that’s my name), you can afford £80-100!”  “Oh, Cafe Bebe, just sell a few of those pushchairs and you can go!”  Well, you’re not entirely wrong…I could sell a few pushchairs.  But I also truly can’t afford it.  We, like many other families, are living on one income while I try to bring in dribs and drabs to give us a little extra.  It’s not fair for me to take £100 from our lives and our bills to attend a conference.

But I REALLY wanted to go!  I want to see my blogging friends, meet people who have been inspirations to me and have mentored me; I want to learn new things and have a bit of blogging fun!  Hence, the appeal to the great PR Gods and Goddesses.  Well, apparently I have a Fairy Godmother or Godfather.  I received a call from Cybermummy organiser and Stokke PR goddess Sian To this morning telling me that she had an ANONYMOUS donation for one ticket to Cybermummy in the name of Cafe Bebe (well, I think they probably used my real name…what is my real name again?)!  What the…???  Someone loves me…they really love me (channeling Sally Field from her agonising Oscar speech)!!

I don’t know who this amazing BENEFACTOR is but I must say, a thousand times, THANK YOU!!!  You don’t know how much this means to me.  Well, maybe you do but truly, I am touched.  It’s an extremely generous thing to do and I am so appreciative.  If I knew who you were I could thank you in person but I certainly respect your anonymity.  Rest assured that I will do you proud at Cybermummy on 3 July and will blog about the experience in full (whether you like it or not).  And if, fair benefactor, you should wish to reveal yourself, I’ll be happy to bake you cup cakes and/or buy you a drink at Cybermummy (will you be there?).

So, who’s up for drinks at Cybermummy?  First round’s on me!

Cafe Bebe & Little Miss say "THANK YOU!"

NHS versus Not

Posted by cafebebemama on Aug 24, 2009 in Uncategorized | 6 comments

There’s been a lot of brouhaha in the US lately regarding National Health Care.  The poor NHS has been dragged through the wringer by under-informed US politicians and citizens and I just thought I would dip my toe in as an American expat permanently living in the UK. 

In case you’re not aware, US President Barack Obama is struggling to bring about the idea of a National Health Care programme in the US.  There is no National Health Care in the US.  If you don’t have your own insurance, either through your employer or out of your own pocket, you are not insured and therefore, are not eligible for medical care.  If there’s a major medical emergency and you have no insurance, you might be lucky enough to be cared for in the A&E (US Emergency Room) as a “charity case” but for regular medical care/treatment/prescriptions you’re out of luck.  And even when you are insured in the US, it all depends on what’s “covered” in your insurance policy which will determine how much extra you’ll have to pay. 

For example, when I worked in 1999-2002, I had the joy of having an employer who paid 75% of my insurance premium.  The additional 25% came out of my salary, which I never really saw anyway so that was fine.  That didn’t mean that I didn’t pay for medical care/treatment, however.  For every doctor visit, I paid a $25 office visit fee (a normal rate for many doctors is around $100 per visit).  If I had any prescriptions my insurance policy required a $10 co-pay fee for all prescriptions.  Prescriptions are VERY expensive in the US.  If you have no prescription coverage you will incur the full cost of the prescription which could be very expensive ($50-100 sometimes).  Strangely enough, birth control was never covered in any of the insurance packages I had whereas in the UK, it’s free.  Seems like a much better idea to me! 

When I went back to school in 2003, I became a STUDENT again, which meant that I had no insurance other than the ability to be treated at the University Health Centre.  Prescriptions were full cost and any additional medical care would be out of pocket.  Most students, when they are traditional age (18-22), tend to still be under their parent’s insurance so this helps with medical costs, but ultimately, the parent’s are paying for it.  What this ends up boiling down to is that many US citizens are not insured.  They simply cannot afford the costs of an insurance premium, their employer (if they are employed) doesn’t foot the bill and general medical and health care is unavailable.  You’d better be a mostly healthy person in these cases because otherwise, you’re going to be very miserable. 

When I came to reside in the UK in 2005, initially I couldn’t get signed on with the NHS.  My chronic allergies and asthma were flaring up and I had to seek medical care.  We did have to pay out of pocket for an office visit but prescriptions were still the standard rate.  Once I had my fiancée visa and subsequent Leave to Remain visa, I became eligible for care through the NHS.  All I had to do was register!  I was then entitled to any and all medical care and any and all prescriptions at the standard rate and birth control for FREE.  The UK is a wonderful place! 

This, by no means, makes the NHS the most wonderful service.  I have felt very much like a “number” when visiting my GP.  I know they have targets to meet- something like not spending more than 10 minutes with each patient- but come on…pretend you care about me!  The medical care received in the UK is far, far different than that in the US; much less invasive, much more about getting you out the door.  However, any time I have needed anything medically, all it took was a call to my local surgery and I had an appointment, if not the same day, within a day or two of ringing.  In the US you can wait weeks to see your doctor in regular office hours.  Thanks to the NHS, I have regular treatment for my allergies and asthma, free birth control when I needed it and a gorgeous and healthy daughter.  My birth experience and subsequent hospital stay was  rather miserable  but ultimately, both of us came out of it with little ill effects.  It’s easy to fault the NHS and criticise, which I have most definitely done but the bottom line is that if you need any kind of health/medical care and/or prescriptions in the UK, you will get it.  Sure, maybe you’ll be in a queue, but you will get it.  My daughter was visited by health visitors in the first few days after her birth IN OUR HOME!  In the US, you have a baby, they shovel you out the door and wish you well.  Unless your baby is poorly, you won’t see medical professionals unless you make an appointment and go to a clinic or to the hospital.  There’s no one coming to your door to make sure you’re alright. 

The NHS is not perfect but in my humble opinion as an American, a National Health Service is far better than having nothing at all.  Before you criticise the NHS, Americans, you need to understand what the NHS is all about and what it does for people.  A National Health programme can work and is not the creation of socialists.  Barack Obama is not a socialist.  He is just trying to do what many previous Presidents have said they would do…he’s trying to take care of America.  And there are a lot of people in America who need taking care of.  I doubt it will happen, a National Health Care programme in America.  I, for one, am very grateful that I live in the UK and have access to the NHS (I do pay taxes, fear ye not).  So, while I can’t quite say “I LOVE the NHS”, I do say “Thank You NHS” for being there when I needed you.

British Mummy Blogger Love

Posted by cafebebemama on Aug 21, 2009 in Uncategorized | 15 comments

I started Mummy Blogging in May.  I’ve done a few blogs in my time but I needed a creative outlet and something to do during nap times.  I started looking for other Mummies but all I could find, initially, was Mommies, not Mummies.  I’m American, you see and for whatever reason, the only blogs I could find were American Mommies.  They had so many product reviews and seemed to be getting so much STUFF.  And oh, the giveaways!  But they were never offering international entries. (Do you know how much it costs to mail things from the US?  Lots!)  I enjoyed their blogs but was finding the actual blogging difficult to find amongst all the reviews.

So, in June, I googled Mummy Blogs, UK and guess what I stumbled upon?  British Mummy Bloggers!  Ooh…how nice.  I might not be British but I am a Mummy and I was Blogging and I’m as-good-as British so why not?  I sent in my membership request and within a day or so, I was an official member of British Mummy Bloggers!  That was about 200 members ago!  I have found so many wonderful Mummies and friends that I just have to gush for a bit.  And British Mummy Bloggers has given me opportunities that I never dreamed I might have.  Ready for some prime gush?

*Susanna, founder of BMB, author of A Modern Mother, has created a brilliant social networking site that I know a lot of other Mummy Bloggers are extremely grateful for.  She’s given us forums, opportunities to promote any and everything we’re working on, pointed us in the direction of PR’s and journalists, acquired sponsors like Silver Cross and scheduled meet-ups like the one held at the Rainforest Cafe in London in June.  She’s connected some amazing mummies and daddies who have formed friendships and learned a great deal from each other.  Thank you Susanna (a fellow American as well…who knew an American could found a social networking site called BRITISH Mummy Bloggers!).

*I had my first experiences writing product reviews because of BMB and Silver Cross .  I actually received, tested, reviewed and GOT TO KEEP the Silver Cross Halo pushchair and Doodle highchair.  They continue to be staples in our household and I can’t believe that I now am in possession of such amazing products all for the exchange of a review on my wee blog.

*Connections, Connections, Connections- Had I never found BMB, I would never have gotten the chance to write reviews as a “freelance” writer (I like that title) by commission from MadeForMums website (I got PAID!!); I never would have found Liz Jarvis’ LivingWithKids where I’ll be reviewing products in the near future (can’t wait!); Sally Whittle of The Great Toy Guide would not have been the recipient of 4 of my toy reviews and I wouldn’t have been in line to receive a few lovely things to try and review.  I’ve had the great fortune of being in the right place at the right time but were BMB not putting it out there, I’d still be wondering how I could bring in a bit of the “bacon” for our family.

*I’ve become a better observer of my daughter and have been photographing her more so I can continue to share our adventures.  My family all live in the US and they don’t get the day to day joy of Little Miss.  With my blogging, they are able to have a window into our lives and feel better for it. 

*And finally, I’ve met some absolutely amazing people who make me feel better about myself as a mother and a writer, who have helped me to fulfill some dreams and who have brightened my days and nights with their words and laughter.  There are many of these brilliant women but 4 stand out for me: OMG, We’re Pregnant, Violet Posy, Ella Announcements and Bambino Goodies.  These women have made my Café Bébé a successful and lovely reality.  They didn’t need to help me!  They most certainly did not get paid to help me!  They just responded to my techno-dim cries for help and took from their own personal time to help out wee me.  What women!  So, if you like what you see on Café Bébé, a lot of credit goes out to these ladies.  See their sites and you’ll know where their genius lies.

To wrap up…I just want to say thank you…thank you to BMB, thank you to Twitter, thank you to Café Bébé readers/followers/subscribers because you’ve given me a bit of myself back and for that, I am very grateful!  Until next time…

Such Manners!

Posted by cafebebemama on Aug 5, 2009 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

My 14 month old Little Miss has such lovely manners, I am proud to say.  I’ve always strived to have her be polite and want her one day to have proper table manners, when she sorts out how to not turn the spoon upside down as it’s approaching her mouth.  We’ll take it one day at a time with that one.

Anyway, Little Miss has taken to pointing and “mmm”-ing at something when she wants it.  God only knows what she wants sometimes…you end up pointing back at everything she seems to be aiming for until her eyes light up.  So, I decided to have a lesson.  One day after hearing one too many “mmm” ‘s at everything, I said, “Sweetheart, when you want something from Mummy, say PLEASE, not mmmm”.  Little Miss looked at me, put her hand to her mouth (Little Miss sign for PLEASE based on Makaton Justin on Cbeebies!) and said “Plee” which is how she says PLEASE.  Such an angel!  Now, anytime the “mmm” comes out, I say, “use your words” and she puts her hand to her mouth and says “Plee”.  I have such a clever girl.  Mind you, I still don’t always know what the heck she wants but at least she’s polite in the attempt. 

In addition to “plee” and the hand gesture, we also have been working on THANK YOU.  I’m not a huge fan of the word “ta”.  My American side comes out in this regard…I would rather have Little Miss say “Thank You” or nothing rather than “Ta”.  Not that there’s anything wrong with this, mind (don’t mean to offend the UK-ers out there!).  Everytime the situation calls for it, I model the “thank you” for Little Miss and repeat it several times.  It’s taken a while but one day, out came “tank uhhn”.  That’s right folks!  My girl said THANK YOU!  Well, not many people would understand it as THANK YOU but I do and that’s all that matters.  And it’s a start isn’t it?  She’s getting quite good at it now and every once in a while the “you” part actually sounds like a ”you”.  It is interesting, though…she’s repeating the sounds that stick out- the “t”, the ”nk” and the “ou” albeit rather muffled. 

I’m proud of my girl!  Next lesson, I’m hoping is “LOVE YOU”!  We’re getting proper, smacky kisses now versus open mouthed, drooly kisses so I’m thinking “LOVE YOU” isn’t far off now.  I’ll keep you posted.